Journal Broadcast, Time Warner still swinging; viewers being bloodied

While Journal Broadcast Group and Time Warner Cable continue to swing wildly at each other, neither has yet struck a knockout punch and viewers are the ones being bloodied.

When you have to consult a calendar to tell how long the dispute between the two has lasted - which is 21 days, by the way -- the answer is too long.

The dispute has caused Journal Broadcast Group stations WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) and WGBA-TV in Green Bay to be taken off the Time Warner Cable lineup.

Latest developments suggest positions have only hardened.

In this corner is Journal Broadcast, which Wednesday asked the consumer protection and antitrust unit of the Wisconsin attorney general's office "to commence an enforcement action to require Time Warner to fulfill its statutory obligations to provide Wisconsin consumers with a credit for the service they have been denied and to stop charging for programming it is no longer providing."

It cited a section of state statutes that require "video program service providers" to compensate customers for service interruptions of more than four hours.

Journal Broadcast has posted a form letter viewers can forward to the attorney general's office requesting a rebate from Time Warner.

Also on Wednesday, Time Warner replaced WTMJ and WGBA on its cable lineup with the Game Show Network. Journal Broadcast called it "a stunt" and "hardly good faith negotiating."

Time Warner also released the following statement:

"We look forward to discussing with the Attorney General why the law cited by Journal Broadcasting Group does not apply in this situation, and why Journal persists in misleading its viewers in this way. We regret that our customers are being subjected to these falsehoods, and would prefer Journal put as much energy into completing our negotiations as they are in distracting viewers from the real issues."

The two sides are in dispute over fees paid by pay TV services to carry a station's programming. A similar standoff continues between Time Warner and stations and channels owned by CBS, including Showtime.

A class-action lawsuit was filed last week by three men on behalf of all Time Warner subscribers who no longer get WTMJ. A similar lawsuit was filed on behalf of viewers in Los Angeles denied access to the CBS owned station there.

Journal Broadcast is owned by Journal Communications, which owns the Journal Sentinel.

About Duane Dudek

Duane Dudek is a reporter and columnist covering radio and television. He also reviews movies.